Spezial N - Nitrogen Fertilizer

[Bhu]

Thanks Darrel that's great. I always use RO water so. Ever tap water. It is usually around 1ppm of what I'm not sure. But very soft and slightly acidic. I will check the calculator out.

Would I need extra Magnesium and Phosphate?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Would I need extra Magnesium and Phosphate?

No you shouldn't, plants don't require much Mg (although there might be problems with Mg++ uptake where you have very high levels of Ca++ ions). The mix might be a bit nitrogen poor.

Even though phosphorus is one of the macro-elements plants need a lot less of it than they do potassium (K) or nitrogen (N).

I think calcium probably isn't included in the mix because a lot of UK tap water contains more than enough for plant growth. If you need to buy CaCl2.2H2O it is about £3 per kilo via home brew shops, ebay etc.

cheers Darrel

 

[Bhu]

Thank you 🙂

 

[Ahmad]

Hello,
First of all thank you for great information..

I couldn't find Magnesium Nitrate but I have the below:

Potassium Nitrate
Calcium Nitrate
Urea
Magnesium Sulfate
Mono Potassium Phosphate
Potassium Sulfate

My Question is, since I don't have Magnesium Nitrate can I increase the amount of P.N or C.N to match the amount of Nitrate in Tobias mix ?

If yes, how much I need to increase the amount of P.N or/and C.N ?

25,9 g potassium nitrate
29,5 g calcium nitrate
17,6 g magnesium nitrate
5 g urea

Thank you in advance

 

[plantbrain]

I still want someone to explain why I have never seen a single case of K+ excess causing a problem for ANY plant species?

Look, I've played this game with folks going back to 2001 now. Every single time someone claims to have a found a plant that is sensitive to K+ and/or EI, I grow it and it and it turned into this:



I want some details on these folk's tanks other than the ferts.
Because there's no correlation there and I'm adding liberal amounts of KNO3 as well as GH booster and KH2PO4.
Eg, more than they are adding in most cases.

HC?

I can grow the snot out of that plant, it's a weed. Needs trimmed often.
I grow 180 cm worth of it, a trimming headache.

Ammannia? This was one of the 1st.

You do not need to understand the science here.
But you do need to be able to reproduce the issues to say it's K+.

And that clearly has never been done once to date, after almost 15 years, you'd think someone would have stepped up to the plate and proven me wrong.
Name a plant I cannot grow at high K+, sat 20-80 ppm.

I've waited 14 years.
Every case has been falsified.
If you do not bother to falsify your own hypothesis, you do not know enough about the topic.

NO3 and K+ inhibition and Ca++ are signaling cues at millimolar levels for the cell transporters, they are not external exogenous fertilizer levels.
Two very different things. But many aquarist have confused the two.

Please, anyone, name a plant that has some negative effect with high K+.
See if you can stump me, I double dog dare you.

 

[hard determinist]

Every case has been falsified.

I don't believe every case has been falsified. IMO you use a perverse logic in your reasoning.

According to your logic:
If someone claims that the algae growth is related to the eleveted levels of nutrients, it is sufficient to find just one tank where this claim does not hold true (i.e. tank with elevated levels of nutriens and no visible algae), and the claim is thus falsified.

According to the same logic:
If someone claims that the algae growth is not related to the eleveted levels of nutrients, it is sufficient to find just one tank where this claim does not hold true (i.e. tank with elevated levels of nutriens and a lot of visible algae), and the claim is thus falsified.

So based on the same perverse logic I can easily falsify most of your claims.
So if you are waiting for this kind of arguments I'm afraid you'll wait for ages, without seeing your error.

 

[dmachado]

Hello Tobi,

First of all, many thanks for sharing your recipe, it is leading me to a new path and helping me understand some things about my past successes and my present frustrations.

I have been "detoxing" my aquarium from what I think was excess trace dosing, keeping mainly iron fertilization. I have been dosing EI for quite some time now, I have pressurized CO2, but this 300L aquarium turned out a lot worse than my previous 150L overstocked and without CO2 addition.

Funny thing, I think I found this weekend some kind of "tipping point", as I added some 12 fish on Saturday, increased feeding accordingly and by sunday night many plants started to look greener. So I bet that, at least in my case, its the Urea. This would explain to some extent why my 150L aquarium was so successful, and why this 300L aquarium is giving so much trouble.

So now I have all the ingredients and I will start dosing as per your instructions.

Once again, thanks for sharing.

 

[roadmaster]

I don't believe every case has been falsified. IMO you use a perverse logic in your reasoning.

According to your logic:
If someone claims that the algae growth is related to the eleveted levels of nutrients, it is sufficient to find just one tank where this claim does not hold true (i.e. tank with elevated levels of nutriens and no visible algae), and the claim is thus falsified.

According to the same logic:
If someone claims that the algae growth is not related to the eleveted levels of nutrients, it is sufficient to find just one tank where this claim does not hold true (i.e. tank with elevated levels of nutriens and a lot of visible algae), and the claim is thus falsified.

So based on the same perverse logic I can easily falsify most of your claims.
So if you are waiting for this kind of arguments I'm afraid you'll wait for ages, without seeing your error.

What if dozen's of people have also noted no correlation between elevated nutrient level's and algae?
Could there be some other factor to consider ? Excess Light energy,CO2 or lack thereof,poor maint ,poor filtration, overfeeding,or roll your own method of dosing other than what method call's for? (whatever method is chosen)
Am near certain that Tom has set up and grown plant's in more than one aquarium over his time in the hobby as have most of us.

 

[G H Nelson]

Algae.....mostly contributed to poor flow plus lack of regular water changes!
Inadequate cleaning of plants and filter maintenance....just my opinion!
hoggie

 

[hard determinist]

What if dozen's of people have also noted no correlation between elevated nutrient level's and algae?

What if hundreds or thousands of people (+ great many scientists) have also noted clear correlation between elevated nutrient levels and algae?

PS: I'm able to induce many kinds of algae in my test tanks using elevated nutrient levels. Quite easy task.

 

[roadmaster]

What if hundreds or thousands of people (+ great many scientists) have also noted clear correlation between elevated nutrient levels and algae?

Perhaps their nutrient level's far exceed that which we add to our aquarium's .
Perhaps their nutrient level's are comprised of too much organic matter rather than inorganic mineral salt's we use.
Perhaps their bodies of nutrient rich water do not get removed and replaced with fresh water on weekly basis.
Perhaps they receive too much light,poor CO2 availablility.

 

[G H Nelson]

What if hundreds or thousands of people (+ great many scientists) have also noted clear correlation between elevated nutrient levels and algae?

Hundreds of thousands can grow algae through lack of maintenance!
Tom Barr can grow multitudes of healthy plants with elevated Potassium fertilizer's but he does constant and regular water changes,in depth cleaning and even more important scrutinises his tanks every day!!!

 

[hard determinist]

Perhaps their nutrient level's far exceed that which we add to our aquarium's .
Perhaps their nutrient level's are comprised of too much organic matter rather than inorganic mineral salt's we use.
Perhaps their bodies of nutrient rich water do not get removed and replaced with fresh water on weekly basis.
Perhaps they receive too much light,poor CO2 availablility.

Or perhaps your explanation of the "cause and consequence" is not correct.
I grow plants in my test tanks where I use high light and high CO2 levels + do 100% water change each week. I use different nutrient concentrations in each tank (from very low to EI levels). I hardly have any organic or NH4 build up there. Still I can have a lot of algae there if I wish to. The scientist grow algae in lab very often using just petri dish with the correct nutrient media, put under recommended light source. So who's falsifying what?

 

[roadmaster]

Perhaps it is easier to be a scientist than for many to successfully run a planted tank sans algae.🙄
You could/can take some people by the hand and show em,and they will still fail.

 

[hard determinist]

Hundreds of thousands can grow algae through lack of maintenance!
Tom Barr can grow multitudes of healthy plants with elevated Potassium fertilizer's but he does constant and regular water changes,in depth cleaning and even more important scrutinises his tanks every day!!!

Why are you so imperious here? It's no "life or death" issue so take it easy. Or do you have no solid arguments, so you are trying to shout your opinion out to make it more valid? I say that the logic Tom uses for the falsification is twisted. I used the same logic to get a totaly different results. You did not show me any valid argument that proves this logic is correct. Instead you try to convince me that the result is correct. But I say nothing against the result (which doesn't mean I agree with it). I just use your own arguments against you to show you that they are not valid.

 

[hard determinist]

Perhaps it is easier to be a scientist than for many to successfully run a planted tank sans algae.🙄
You could/can take some people by the hand and show em,and they will still fail.

Agree. You can take some people by the hand and show them how algae are formed in a tank with plants + light + nutrients, and they'll still fail to recognize it and keep speculating why it should not be true (organics, NH4, low maintenance, low CO2 ... bad planet, wrong galaxy).

 

[roadmaster]

Maybe the question should be.."How come so many can grow the weed's without issues related to nutrient delivery in their aquarium's"?
But this would assume that which one might not be ready to accept.
How come their tank's aren't crawling with algae?
What is their secret?
Are they lying bout their tank's?(lighting.CO2,Nutrient addition)
Are their tank's presented in photo album's a mirage?
These are the question's I wondered about for a good while.
I had no interest in attacking a particular method or it's creator, just wanted to know the secret.
Clearly there was evidence that it could be done.

 

[aquascape1987]

Hi guys. Been reading this thread a month now and I'm looking to give Spezial N a go. I was wondering if anyome could give a bit of advice on how best to intergrate this mix into my current reigime.Currently I'm using apfs ei starter kit. How would I integrate Spezial N into that..?

Dose in addition to?

Replace the macro mix entirely with Spezial
N and still use the trace mix?

Currently my macro contains potassium nitrate,potassium phosphate and magnesium sulphate.

Also wondered if anyone on here had continued using the formula and perhaps made any tweaks to the composition that worked well for them. It's been 5 years since this was first introduced on here , so I imagine if ukaps members are still using, they will have developed their own formula variations of this. I did see George had customised it at some point but again that was years ago now

Does anyone know how this Spezial N might affect my amano shrimp and ottos if at all??

🙂

 

[EdwinK]

Just ask yourself why you want to do that? What is wrong with your current setup? Do plants look in need of additional nitrogen? Do you have algae issues?

 

[aquascape1987]

Fully understand what your angling at,but I want to try it and see if I can improve my results. That's how the human race progresses, by not accepting it's current situation, even though it already works just fine, but we endeavor for further progress 🙂

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk